Manhattan's Curse
by Fantasy3
Summary: Newsies-Brigadoon Crossover: When three girls go on a roadtrip, they find the city of Manhattan. But how come everyone's dressed in old-fashioned clothes? There's definately something weird going on...
1. The Curse

Disclaimer: I don't own the newsies, Disney does. I only own Fantasy, the rest of the girls own themselves.  
  
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Pulitzer sighed, looking around the Mayor's office. "I'm sorry about the madness this strike has caused."  
  
"You've learned your lesson, then?" Mr. Bennet, the Mayor, smiled at him and sat down in his chair. "Don't worry about it, Mr. Pulitzer. Everything's getting back to normal... and I daresay, that strike may be the very thing this city needs!"  
  
The two men looked up, distracted, as the door to the office banged open. A figure stood where the door had just been, his dark eyes glowering at the pair of them.  
  
"Can I help you?" Mr. Bennet asked, standing up again and circling his desk.  
  
"It's you... why'd you let the newsies win?" He asked, walking swiftly into the room and stopping in front of Pulitzer. "Everything will be changed. Nothing will be right."  
  
"I had no choice. Besides, what does it matter you to?" Pulitzer asked, standing up and staring the man in the face. "I'm the one who lost the money."  
  
The man shook his head. "I lost all my workers. They're going on about unions now." He said angrily.  
  
"Well, yes, if you start a union, your workers will come back-" the Mayor started to explain, but the man shook his head again.  
  
"You don't understand. I don't like the union idea."  
  
"Maybe if I explain it better to you?" The Mayor asked.  
  
"No." The man whispered. "No... you leave me no choice."  
  
Neither Mr. Bennet nor Pulitzer knew quite what happened next; there was a bright flash of light followed by an echoing boom. They had both covered the faces in protection. When they thought it would be safe, they both lowered their arms and saw, to their surprise, a piece of paper where the man had just been standing.  
  
The Mayor, being the closest, bent down to read it. As he did, Pulitzer looked out the window of the office, marveling at the fact that the boom hadn't torn up any buildings.  
  
"Y-You'd better read this, Mr. Pulitzer." The Mayor said. Pulitzer turned around to find a slightly shaken Mr. Bennet. He reached out his hand for the note, and read.  
  
....................  
  
Racetrack hurried through the empty streets. He had been selling at the outer edges of Manhattan, and when he reached the Lodging House, he found no one there. When he had checked behind Kloppman's desk, he noticed a note, telling him that the Mayor wanted everyone in the square to tell them some news. And he was late. Hopefully, it wasn't anything too important; though Race could never remember anyone calling the whole city to meet in the square. He shrugged it off and began to jog as he got closer, stopping on the edge of it. He looked around for his friends and quickly found them, standing near the back. He walked over to them and placed his arm on Mush's shoulder, grinning. "Did I miss anythin'?"  
  
Jack grinned at him. "No, the Mayor ain't here yet."  
  
Race nodded and looked around, acknowledging Spot, his other best friend, Kid Blink, and the other newsies around him. He grinned as he noticed Kloppman standing by the younger newsies. "Heya, Kloppman. Thanks for that note."  
  
Kloppman smiled slightly, though he looked a little anxious. "It sounded urgent; he said everyone had to be here."  
  
Race nodded, frowning a little. But then they heard a voice shouting over the rest, and they looked up to see the Mayor, his wife and five daughters standing behind him. He looked over at Kid, knowing about the crush his friend had on the Mayor's eldest daughter, and at any other time he would have made a comment. But something about the look on the Mayor's face told him that they were there for a reason.  
  
And it wasn't a good one.  
  
Everyone quieted down, and the Mayor began to speak. "I hate to have to tell you this... and some of you will probably think I'm crazy." He sighed. "And who knows, maybe I am. But as I was talking to Mr. Pulitzer today-"  
  
"That old idiot?" Skittery said, smirking. The newsies around him laughed a little, lessening the feel of foreboding.  
  
"-a man walked in, and he was very angry that Mr. Pulitzer had let the newsies win their strike... he seemed to be upset that his workers wanted a union now."  
  
Race looked over at Mush, raising his eyebrow. He heard Jack whisper, "Of course he has ta add us in dere."  
  
"He decided that he needed to punish us, I guess. He, well, he disappeared, but left a note behind. It basically said that," At this point, the Mayor looked back at his family, and his wife gave a little nod, "that he cast a spell on our city. None of us can leave the city, and the next time we wake up, though it will only have felt like a normal night's sleep to us, it will be one hundred and five years in the future. We'll stay the same as everything changes, and when we wake up, i-in the future, we'll be the same age. And I know this sounds absurd, but it says this all in the note. And he said that the city will disappear until we wake up again."  
  
They stared at him, stunned, for what seemed like a long time. But then Spot came to his senses and turned around. He started to run, but Race, Mush, Snitch, and Itey blocked his way. "I gotta get ta Brooklyn!"  
  
Snitch shook his head. "Spot..." he said quietly. "You can't go back."  
  
Spot stared up at him. "You don't believe dis, do ya?! I ain't stayin' here!"  
  
The newsies all looked at each other, and finally Jack nodded. "Look... jus' stay the night, and if it's not real, you can go back home in da mornin'."  
  
Spot glared at him. "I can't leave me newsies alone, Jack."  
  
"You've done it before." Jack pointed out.  
  
"I know. But if da curse is real..." He trailed off and sighed. "Fine, I'll stay the night."  
  
Others all over were acting the same way. But inside, Racetrack just knew that this curse was real.  
  
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I hope that was alright... anyway, I promise everyone will be in the next chapter. Have a great day, and enjoy!!!!! 


	2. Road Trip

Disclaimer: Me no own Newsies. Disney own Newsies. Me own Fantasy... (alright, I give up on the Caveman talk) I don't own Newsies, Disney, that lovely, wonderful company (so yes, I'm sucking up...) does. I own Fantasy/Maura, while the Mayor's daughters, Clips, Air, and Myya own themselves. And I don't own 'The Boy from Oz', I just referred to it. And anyone not stated here, I might own, but I don't really care about them. Lol.  
  
Shout Outs!!  
  
Clips- Well thank you, dear. I'm glad mine's not weird!! Lol. I've got a question for you, though. Which guy would you want more, Spot or Skittery? Just tell me in a review. :)  
  
Blue Boxer- You're such a sweetie. I hope you like this one, too!  
  
Marbles- Thank ya!!  
  
Mayfly- Thank you so much! I hope you like this chapter, too!  
  
Strawberri Shake- Glad you like it! And Pulitzer was talking to the Mayor about working out all the problems from the strike. Which I meant to say but I forgot... lol.  
  
Jazz- Thank you!! Ooo, it's eerie! Cool!  
  
sosweet22- Thanks!!!  
  
Chaos89- Thanks! I hope you like this one, too.  
  
Air- This is for you, hon!! I updated it before you left!  
  
Puck- I don't know... what WILL happen next?!?  
  
Let's read and find out!!!  
  
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"You're sure you have everything?"  
  
Fantasy rolled her eyes and her mom fussed over her and her dad grabbed her suitcase off the floor. "Mom, you helped me pack last night. I'll be fine, don't worry."  
  
"Make sure you're with Alicia and Arielle at all times." Mrs. O'Leary said to her green-eyed daughter.  
  
Fantasy laughed. "Mom, we know what we're doing."  
  
They heard a honk come from outside and Fantasy grinned. "They're here."  
  
"Come on... grab your backpack, Maura." Mr. O'Leary said, and he opened the door to carry the suitcase out to the car.  
  
Fantasy reached over and picked her backpack off a chair and followed behind her dad. She waved to her two friends, both of whom were ready to go. The three of them were finally all sixteen, it was finally summer, and today began their long-awaited road trip. They had been planning this since the summer before, and had all been amazed that their parents said they'd be able to. They'd be driving to New York City from a small town on the outskirts of Chicago. Fantasy's friend Alicia, who's nick name was Clips, had the earliest birthday out of all of them was behind the wheel. She'd be driving the most, because she had more experience.  
  
"Heya Clips! You ready?"  
  
Clips grinned and tucked her shoulder length brown hair behind her ear. "Yeah. I can't wait."  
  
"Me neither!" Arielle exclaimed. She, too, had a nickname. All her friends called her Air. She was sitting in the passenger's seat, and she turned to face Fantasy. As she did so, the sun glinted off her small-framed glasses, but she was grinning, too.  
  
"Now, you're sure you know what roads to take?" Mrs. O'Leary asked, frowning slightly.  
  
Air rolled her eyes. "Mrs. O, we know what we're doing. We went over those maps for hours. And don't worry," She reached over and tapped the glove compartment in front of her, "We've got them all in here."  
  
Mrs. O'Leary nodded, a little more calm than before. "Alright. Well, girls, I hope you have a great time! Make sure and call when you get to the hotel tonight."  
  
"We will, Mom. I love you!" Fantasy smiled at her mom and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "You have the hotel number already, in case you need us."  
  
That caused Mrs. O'Leary to laugh. "Thanks, I'll remember that."  
  
"Bye Dad." She reached over and hugged and kissed him, too. "We'll see you in ten days!"  
  
"Have a fun trip." Mr. O'Leary said.  
  
Fantasy jumped into the back seat of the silver car and shut the door. "Let's get going!"  
  
...........................  
  
The drive was fun. As the saying goes, "Half the fun is getting there". At the Holiday Inn that night they called home to all their parents, reassuring them they were safe.  
  
"You know... it doesn't make sense." Air said, jumping onto one of the twin beds. "If our parents are so worried, why'd they let us go in the first place?"  
  
"I don't know. But I'm glad they let us come." Fantasy said, laughing.  
  
"Yeah..." Clips said, sighing. She fell onto the other twin bed and stared at the ceiling. "You know what'd be cool? If we met guys in New York."  
  
Air groaned. "Not this again!"  
  
Clips sat up, frowning. "You never know."  
  
"No, you never do." Fantasy said. She was trying to figure out how to open up the couch so she could sleep on the pull-out bed, but it was harder than it looked.  
  
Clips laughed at her and got up. "Here..." She pulled on it and it opened up, just like that.  
  
"Thanks." Fantasy said. "Maybe, since you opened it, you would want to sleep on this instead?"  
  
They both laughed at her. "Nice try, Fantasy, but that's not gonna happen." Air said.  
  
Fantasy smirked and sank onto the pull-out bed. "Oh, well. It's only for tonight."  
  
...............................  
  
Racetrack woke up to Kloppman, just like any other day. But he was confused; instead of the loud shouting, telling them to get up and sell their papes, he was talking in his normal voice, shaking each other them in turn.  
  
"Hey, Kloppy," Race said. "Is somethin' wrong?"  
  
Kloppman turned to look at him, and in that moment, Race remembered about the curse. "Is it real, Kloppy?"  
  
From the bunk next to him, Snipeshooter looked over and frowned. "What are ya talkin' about, Race?"  
  
"The curse." He said simply.  
  
The rest of the newsies shot glances at each other. "Did it work?" Jack asked, jumping down from his bunk.  
  
Kloppman nodded. "Look out the window."  
  
Racetrack raised his eyebrows but did as Kloppman asked. When he reached the window his eyes widened in shock. Out past the normal buildings he'd seen every morning of his life at the Lodging House he could see buildings that hadn't been there before. They were taller than anything he'd ever seen, and there were so many of them, all clumped together. "That ain't right."  
  
The rest of the boys hurried over to look out. They crowed around Race, and they, too, were shocked. Spot was near the front, and pushed his way back through the boys once he had seen the other buildings. "So it's true. We're in da future."  
  
"I can't believe it." Jack said.  
  
"You better, 'cause dere ain't nothin' we can do about it." Skittery said.  
  
"Again with da glum and dumbness." Race said.  
  
"Shuddup!" Skittery retorted.  
  
"So, what year is it?" Kid Blink asked.  
  
"Well, it's been a hundred and five years... so," Dutchy paused, adding it all up. "It's twenty-o-four."  
  
"Twenty-o-four?" Itey asked. "Dat's crazy!"  
  
"I can't believe it!" Specs exclaimed. He went to sit back on his bed but froze when he heard a loud buzzing type of noise coming from outside. "Do you hear dat?"  
  
All the newsies stopped talking, and could indeed hear something.  
  
"What do ya think it is?" Snitch asked.  
  
Racetrack looked back out the window and saw, to his astonishment, something flying overhead. "It-it's flyin'!"  
  
Swifty went over to the window and looked out. "It is! Look at dat, it's like a bird."  
  
"Dis is too weird." Spot said, frowning. "Things ain't supposed to fly, only birds are."  
  
Race laughed at him. "Well, I guess things fly in twenty-o-four."  
  
............................  
  
"We could've made it to the city last night. It's only 8:30 in the morning, and we're almost there." Clips said.  
  
"Oh, well, we'll be there all day today." Air said. "Good thing we left the hotel so early."  
  
"This is our exit!" Clips exclaimed excitedly, changing the mood in the car. "Look, you can even see the city now!"  
  
Fantasy grinned. They could definitely see the city's silhouette, even though it was now missing its two biggest buildings. She sighed a little, thinking about 9-11, but then stopped. 'There'll be enough time for that when we visit Ground Zero,' she told herself.  
  
Clips turned the wheel to get onto the exit ramp, and then circled off the highway and got onto the road underneath it.  
  
"Which way do I go?" Clips asked at the first stoplight.  
  
Air shrugged. "I'm not sure... check one of the maps, Fantasy..."  
  
Fantasy, who was sitting in the passenger seat now, reached over and pulled out one of the maps. She unfolded it a stared at it, trying to figure out where they were. "I'm pretty sure we're going to the right."  
  
Air nodded. "That has to be right, look, the city's to the right of us."  
  
Clips nodded and turned on the turn signal, and once the road was clear, turned that way. "This is gonna be awesome. I'm excited about seeing the Broadway shows."  
  
"Yeah, 'The Boy from Oz' sounds really good!" Fantasy said.  
  
"I can't believe we're actually here." Air said, looking out her window at the city.  
  
"I know." Clips agreed.  
  
"Hey, what's that up ahead?" Fantasy asked, pointing to a bunch of buildings they hadn't seen from the highway. "It looks like a town."  
  
"There aren't any towns this close to NYC." Air said matter-of-factly.  
  
"Yeah, there's only the other parts of the city." Clips said, staring at the old-fashioned buildings ahead.  
  
"Should we go through it?" Fantasy asked.  
  
"We might as well." Clips said, shrugging. "It's the faster way to the city."  
  
"You know what, it might be one of those cool historical towns, where everyone dresses in clothes from the past and everything." Air exclaimed. Clips laughed at her, and Fantasy turned around to stare at her. "Well, they have something like that at Plymouth Rock. You never know."  
  
Fantasy laughed. "We'd have heard about this, though."  
  
"Let's go through it, anyway." Air said, and Clips nodded.  
  
"Suit yourself." Fantasy said, and leaned back in her seat, watching as the town came closer. They reached the outer limits of it, and saw people dressed in old-fashioned clothes staring at them. The car started to bounce up and down; they were driving on a brick street. Clips slowed down, noticing the gas streetlights, the horse and buggies driving slowly down the street, and the absence of streetlights and stop signs.  
  
"What the heck?" Fantasy asked, staring around her. "Maybe you were right..."  
  
Clips frowned. "I think we should stop and ask somebody about this. I mean, look at them. They look like they've never seen a car before."  
  
"I don't think they have..." Fantasy said, noticing the looks on all their faces. "Maybe it's some kind of Amish town?"  
  
"No, the Amish know what cars are." Clips said.  
  
"Let's stop and second." Fantasy said.  
  
"No, let's keep going through." Air said. "I don't like this. It's too weird. It's like they came right out of history."  
  
"No way, they couldn't have." Clips said. She was frowning, though.  
  
"Just keep driving." Air said.  
  
"No... I agree with Fantasy." Clips pulled over and stopped the car. She rolled their windows up and turned the engine off. "You wanna go see what this is all about?"  
  
Fantasy nodded and opened her door. "Let's go."  
  
Clips followed her, and after a minute, Air followed them. "This is so stupid."  
  
Fantasy ignored her and pointed to the building they were parked in front of. A sign on it said 'Irving Hall'. "Let's go see if anyone's in there."  
  
She led the way inside the doors into a large theater. They stopped at the back and looked onto the stage where a bright red-haired woman and a younger, dark blonde-haired girl were standing.  
  
"You go first, it was your idea." Air said, pushing Fantasy ahead of them. She turned back to look at her friends a little nervously, but walked down the aisle in between the chairs. The woman noticed her when she was half- way to the stage and walked out to meet her, the girl following behind. The woman was smiling warmly at her, but the other girl was staring at her clothes.  
  
"Umm... excuse me." Fantasy said.  
  
The girl looked up at her face and flashed her a friendly smile.  
  
"Is something wrong, dear?" the woman asked.  
  
"No... well, yes. See, me and my friends," Fantasy gestured to Clips and Air, "were just wondering... well, what's up with this."  
  
The woman nodded. "Dear, I've got a question for you first."  
  
Fantasy raised her eyebrow, confused. "Go ahead."  
  
"What year is it?"  
  
She was taken aback. What year did she think it was? "It's two-thousand four."  
  
The girl's eyes widened in shock. "Two-thousand five?!" She turned to the older woman. "Then the curse was real, Medda. We're in the future!"  
  
Medda, the woman, nodded. "I knew it the moment I saw her, Myya." She turned back to Fantasy. "What's your name, dear?"  
  
"It's Fan- well, it's Maura, but everyone calls me Fantasy. Except my parents... but that's different."  
  
"It's nice to meet you, Fantasy! I'm Myya." The girl put her hand out, and Fantasy shook it. "This is Medda. She owns this theater."  
  
"Nice to meet you." Fantasy said, shaking hands with Medda. "Oh... those are my friends. The one with the glasses is Air, and the other one is Clips."  
  
"Hello, girls!" Medda called to them. "Come here, why don't you join us?"  
  
Air and Clips glanced at each other and walked down the aisle to join them.  
  
"You're probably very confused, aren't you?" Medda asked. The three of them nodded, and Medda smiled. "Just like I thought. Why don't you come in back, I'll explain everything to you."  
  
Fantasy turned back. "You think we should go?" She whispered. Clips and Air nodded.  
  
"I want to find out why everything's so old-fashioned." Air said. "So, let's go."  
  
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Yes, well, they were supposed to meet the newsies in this chapter, but this was taking me so long to write. Anyway, I promise that the Mayor's daughters will be in the next chapter. They were supposed to be in this one, but then it would've gone on forever. Anyway, I hope you liked it! 


	3. A Car Ride, The Newsies, and The Mayor

Disclaimer: Don't own Newsies. E-ma-gin that. I do own Fantasy and other people that are throw randomly in, but Clips, Air, Mayfly, Trolley, Jazz, Mousetrap, Aki, and Myya own themselves. They're just cool people and let me use their characters.

No shout-outs this time, sorry kids. But I love you all for reading this.

It was true, then. They were in a cursed city. Medda had just finished explaining the story. It made no sense; none of those things could possibly happen. They were so out of the ordinary, but just looking around the old theater and thinking about the people they had seen on the streets, they knew it was true.

"I can't believe it. So you've been asleep since 1899?" Fantasy asked incredulously.

"It's hard to believe, but it's true." Medda nodded.

"This is so weird. I mean, here you are, in 2004, and you don't know what happened in the last one hundred and five years!" Clips exclaimed.

"And _a lot_ has happened, let me tell you." Air said.

"Yes, a lot does happen in a hundred and five years." Medda agreed. "I'm sure the Mayor would like to hear about everything. Any idea as to what has happened since we were awake would be helpful. Why don't I bring you over there now?"

Clips glanced at her friends. "You want us to talk to the Mayor?"

"Well... I guess, if we can help in any way." Fantasy shrugged, standing up. "Why don't we?"

Clips stood up beside her. "I'd love to, it'd be cool to see more of the city."

Myya raised her eyebrow. "'Cool'?"

Air laughed. "Wow. That's just so weird that you don't know... We use 'cool' to say something would be fun to do."

Fantasy grinned. "There's probably a lot of words like that... if you don't understand anything, just let us know."

Myya grinned back. "I will, then."

Medda stood up, and Air followed suite.

"We should get going. We only have today." Medda said wryly.

"Medda, do ya think I could go and see da newsies for a while? They'd like ta know about this."

Medda nodded to Myya. "That's actually a good idea. I'll bring the girls over to the Lodging House after they talk to the Mayor. Then they'll be with people their own age."

Myya laughed. "Yes, but they're all boys."

Clips grinned, already thinking of a romance that could happen. "Oh, that'd be fine!"  
  
Everyone looked over at her, and she blushed slightly, but continued to smile. Fantasy and Air looked over at each other and rolled their eyes. They knew Clips well enough to know exactly what she was thinking.

"Hey, Medda. How far is it to the Mayor's house?" Fantasy asked.

"Oh, a few blocks." Medda said.

"How far is a few blocks?" Air asked. She really didn't feel like walking at the moment.

"Maybe ten." Medda answered. "Why?"  
  
Fantasy grinned and looked at her friends. "Well, I was just thinking... we could show you a really fast way to get around."

Air and Clips broke into grins.

"Everybody uses them nowadays." Air agreed.

"And we could drop you off at the Lodging House, Myya." Clips added.

Myya looked to Medda to decide. "We might as well."

The three girls nodded, satisfied.

"We're parked right outside your theater." Air led the way out into the street.

"Do you use carriages still?" Myya asked amiably.

Air laughed. "Something like it..." She pointed to their silver car which was parked behind the old-fashioned lamp post. It looked so out of place compared to everything around it, and Myya and Medda knew what she was talking about without needing her to point at it.

"That's how you get around? But how does it work?" Myya asked.

"It's complicated." Clips said. "Just get on in... You'll have to give us directions to the Lodging House."

Clips opened the door and slipped behind the wheel. Air hopped into the passenger's seat, and Fantasy opened the door for Medda and Myya, grinning. "Don't worry, Clips' a good driver."

Medda stared at her as those she doubted it, but she got inside the car, anyway, and Myya followed. Fantasy slipped in next to them and closed the door behind her.

"It feels so cramped in here." Myya observed. She was used to carriages with the wind blowing in your face.

"We can open the windows once I start the car. But first, you need to put your seat belts on." Clips said. She had already fastened hers, as had Air and Fantasy. It had not been long since any of them had taken Diver's Ed, and the pictures of the car crashes were not lost on them.

Fantasy showed them how to buckle them in, and once they were all ready, Clips turned the key to start the engine. Myya and Medda's eyes widened in shock, and the few people who were out on the streets looked over in surprise at the car. Again, the three girls laughed. Clips carefully pulled out onto the street. "It's not usually this bumpy, it's these cobblestones..." She explained.

As promised, they rolled the windows down, and by the time they reached the Lodging House, everyone was smiling and enjoying the ride.

"I think I like the future." Myya said as she got out of the car.

"Wait 'til we show you cd players." Fantasy promised.

Myya laughed. "If it's as good as this, I can't wait!" She turned to go into the building, but stopped when she saw a few of the newsies coming out. "Heya!"

The three boys nodded to her, but were more interested in the car behind her.

"What is dat?" one of the boys asked. He pushed his dark blonde hair out of his deep brown eyes to get a better look.

The boy beside him glared at it as if it was an enemy he wished to pound. His gray cap was covering his black hair, but the sun was shining directly at his blue-gray eyes as he fingered the cane at his waist. "Did that thing jus' bring ya all the way here?"

Myya grinned. "Yeah, it's called a car."

The last boy frowned. "Is it from da future, then?"

Fantasy had undone her seat belt and reached to open the door, stepping out of the car. "Yeah, and so are me and my friends."

"Ya mean, you're from twenty-oh-four?!" the boy demanded, his brown eyes widening as if he couldn't believe it.

Fantasy laughed. "We're from two thousand four, yes."

He blinked at her, a little bit of color rushing to his cheeks. Once he had recovered, he smirked at her, pushing the top of his hat further up over his black hair. "Tha's what I meant."

She grinned at him, finding herself attracted to him. "That's what I figured."

The blonde-haired boy rolled his eyes at him. "Right... but you're really from now?"

"We didn't lie." Air said from the car.

Clips opened her door and got out to join them. "We're really from the future. Well... from now..."

Myya smiled. "They are. This is Fantasy, and that's Clips. Air's the one in the car."

Air rolled her eyes and got out of the car. "That'd be me."

"I'm Jack Kelly." The blonde-haired boy said, sticking out his hand (void of spit) to each girl in turn. "It's nice ta meet ya."

"You, too." Air said, smiling at him. Now that she was out of the car, she noticed that he was quite cute.

"Spot Conlon." The second boy said. He seemed a little distant as he shook their hands, and Clips couldn't help but wonder why.

"Racetrack Higgins." The last boy said. He smirked again as he spit into his hand and held it out.

"That's gross!" Air exclaimed.

Clips raised her eyebrows when he offered his hand to her. "Don't even think about it."

He turned to Fantasy and offered his spit-laden hand to her, raising his eyebrow, as if challenging her. She looked down at it and then back up at his face before matching his smirk and spitting into her own hand. She reached out and shook his hand before anyone could say anything. When she pulled her hand back, she wiped off on her sweatshirt, trying not to get too disgusted from it. Racetrack smiled at her as he wiped the spit off his hand.

Jack looked at them curiously, but continued. "Are you stayin' here?"

"No, we're going to talk to the Mayor. Medda thinks he'll want to know what's been happening since 1899, and we know, so we figured we'd help." Air explained.

"Come back afta, we'd like to know what's been goin' on, too." Jack said.

"We'll be back later, then." Clips said, smiling at the boys. "And you're staying, Myya?"

"Yeah."

"See you later, then. Bye!" Clips said. She walked back to the driver's side of the car and got in. Air and Fantasy slid into their seats, too, and buckled in for the drive to the Mayor's.

"A lot has happened indeed." Mr. Bennet said, troubled. The girls had just finished their summary of the last hundred and five years, and both he and Medda were saddened to hear of all the wars that had gone on. "We've missed much."

The three girls nodded, not sure what to say now. The Mayor looked down at his watch and started; it was almost 10 o'clock. "Are you girls hungry? You probably haven't eaten anything."

Air nodded, just now noticing the grumbling of her stomach. They had planned on eating breakfast once they had reached the city... but obviously, that hadn't happened.

"Come with me, then. My daughters are probably just eating now, you can join them."

"You have daughters?" Clips asked curiously. "How many?"

"Five of them, two being twins. One is your age." He said. "That would be Rissa. I'll bring you down to meet them and get you something to eat."

"Thank you." Fantasy said.

"Oh, it's no problem. They'll be happy to meet you, I'm sure." Mr. Bennet said, smiling at them.

He was right; it was apparent that all five girls were happy to see them the moment they walked into the room. At the head of the table sat an older women, who they assumed to be Mrs. Bennet. She had brown hair that curled to her shoulders, and she smiled warmly at them.

The oldest daughter was next to her. Her wavy dark brown hair was pulled back by a ribbon and reached down to the middle of her back. She smiled cheerfully at them, her emerald green dress bringing out the warmness in her brown eyes.

Sitting next to her was the sixteen year old, her short brown hair left down. She smiled brightly at them. Beside her was a younger girl sporting even shorter brown hair. It came up to her cheek, and she grinned at them.

Across the table from them were the other two girls. One had big, bouncy brown curls that fell a little past her shoulders. The freckles on her face seemed prominent in the light in the room. She, too, grinned happily at them. Next to her sat the only girl with red hair. Her blue eyes sparkled in the light as she smiled sweetly at them.

Mr. Bennet smiled at his family. "I'd like you all to meet Fantasy, Air, and Clips. They accidentally found our little city when they were... driving?"

Clips grinned, nodding. "Yeah, driving."

"This is my wife, Mrs. Bennet. Girls, why don't you introduce yourselves?"

The first girl nodded. "I'm Ashleigh, but please, call me Mayfly."

"And you're age." Mr. Bennet told her, smiling.

Mayfly rolled her eyes. "Yes, well, I'm seventeen."

"I'm Rissa, but I'd rather be called Aki." She glanced at her parents and winked. "Some people keep forgetting that. And I'm sixteen."

"Marisa." The next girl announced. "But I got the nickname Mousetrap. That's what most people call me, so feel free to do so!! I'm fifteen."

"I'm Trolley, and I'm fourteen." The red-haired girl said.

"Now, dear, that's not your real name." Mrs. Bennet said, urging her.

"It's the one I like." She grinned. "But my real name is Anabelle."

"And I'm Jazz." She rolled her eyes at the next bit. "But my parents like to call me Jacquelyn. If you don't like Jazz, at least call me Jackie." She grinned at them. "I'm fourteen, too. Trolley and I are twins."

The friends exchanged glances; out of all the girls, the least likely to be twins were Trolley and Jazz.

"Really?" Air asked.

"Yeah. We don't look like it, though." Jazz explained.

"Yes, not 'yeah'." Mrs. Bennet corrected.

Jazz rolled her eyes again.

"Why don't we get you girls some chairs and something to eat?" Mr. Bennet asked.

"That sounds like a good idea." Fantasy agreed.

YES! Another chapter. I wonder if any of you remember this... haha, I had to keep checking back at the last chapter. But it won't take me this long to update EVER AGAIN. This I promise you. Ha, a little boy-bandness for you there.

NOW REVIEW! I commandeth thee.


	4. Dun Dun Dunnn

Disclaimer: The newises y Medda belong to Disney, Fantasy belongs to me, Air, Clips, Myya, and the Mayor's daughters belong to their respective owners, and the rest are a mix between Disney and myself.

Author's Note: All right, so I promised to never take that long to update again... and this time, I did even worse. I apologize. And this time, I'm not making any promises. .

* * *

Breakfast was a lovely meal- the Mayor's daughters proved that first impressionscan betrue. They were all friendly and welcomed Fantasy, Clips, and Air into their home without fuss. So breakfast was spent talking about everything from electric lights to the latest fashions. When it was over, Mr. Bennet sent his daughters along with Fantasy, Clips, and Air as he went about the job of letting people know what had happened. 

Fantasy hopped into the driver's seat, Clips and Air sitting on the passenger's side and the other five all sitting in the back seat. She parked in front of the Lodging House and unbuckled her seatbelt.

"How'd you like the ride?" she asked, turning around in her seat to look at the girls, who were suished in the back seat. The image made her chuckle- not only were they smushed against each other (Jazz was even sitting on Mayfly's lap) but their outfits looked completely out of place inside the car. Their expressions didn't help matters, either.

"That wasa amazing! Can we have a go around the block?" Jazz ased excitedly.

"Maybe later. I'm sure they're waiting for us to explain everything to them." Air unbuckled and shoved the passenger-side door open. She slid off the seat, and Clips followed after her. With a bit of trouble, the Bennets got out of the car behind them.

"We've never been here before," Aki informed Clips and Air. "Well, we have, but Papa won't let us in a house for boys." She grinned. "I'm surprised he let us come today."

Fantasy climbed out of the car. "Well, since your dad won't allow it, you guys could just wait out here."

Mousetrap whopped around to face Fantasy. "No! We won't..." But she broke off when she noticed the smirk on her face, and laughed. "I believed you."

"Pay no attention to Fantasy," Air said. "I swear everything that comes out of her mouth is sarcastic."

"Not everything," Fantasy argued, walking up the steps to the Lodging House's door.

"Just most of it." Clips followed her friend up the steps, grinning at the playful shove sent her way by Fantasy.

"Just go on in," Mayfly said. She stood at the bottom of the steps, herding her little sisters up them and noticing the short delay. "Kloppman won't mind."

"Kloppman?" Air asked. "Who's Kloppman?"

"He owns the Lodging House. He's very kind." Mayfly followed the group inside. "We met him and all the newsies after their strike."

Clips and Air laughed. "Newsies?"

"Yeah... the newsboys, who sell the newspapers," Trolley explained, making it sound like the most obvious thing to know.

"You call the newsies?" Clips asked.

"That's what they call themselves. Papa doesn't like it- it's not proper enough- but most people call them newsies, too," Mousetrap told them.

Fantasy grinned and couldn't fight her love of history as she asked, "What strike?"

"The newsboys, they went on strike. Mr. Pulitzer raised the price of the newspapers and they couldn't afford it, so they stopped selling." Jazz swept her gaze around the first floor of the building until she found what she was looking for. "See, over there? They made a lot of signs and hung a few of them up here so no one would forget what they did."

Fantasy wandered over to the signs hanging up, carefully tracing the word "strike" written in white paint on one of them. "But they did forget."

"What do you mean?" Mayfly joined her.

"I've never heard of the newsboy's strike," Fantasy said.

"Me neither," Clips agreed.

"It isn't in any history books," Air said.

"Are you sure?" Mayfly asked, frowning when Fantasy nodded in response. "But the strike influenced some Child Labor laws- when our town disappeared they were just beginning."

"That's weird," Fantasy whispered. "Why wouldn't more people know about it?"

"Them winning was the reason our town was cursed, though," Aki said. "Papa was telling us aout it, remember? That man was angry about it all."

"But what could he have done? People outside of the city had heard about the strike."

"I don't know, but I don't like it." Jazz frowned.

A noise at the top of the stairs leading to the second floor caused them all to turn. Racetrack was standing there, grinning. "I thought I heard people down here." He gestured to the room behind him. "Come on up, everybody's in dere."

Myya appeared behind him. "You're back! Great, they keep asking me about the future, but all I've been able to tell them about is the car."

"Don't worry, we have lots to tell them," Clips said, walking up the stairs excitedly. She knew without a doubt that all the newsies would want to hear what they had to say. It was like being on stage, where she felt very comfortable- her parents were big performers and it seemed Clips was following in their footsteps.

"Good." Racetrack led them into the bunkroom. "They're here!"

All the boys turned to look at them, a few of them standing up where they noticed the Mayor's daughters.

And old man walked up to them, extending his hand to each in turn. "I'm Kloppman. It's wonderful of you to come join us. Boys, introduce yourseleves." He held up a hand when everyone began talking at once. "One at a time. Racetrack, why don't you start?"

The introductions continued around the room after Racetrack- Kid Blink, Jack, Jake, and Snoddy stood in the back, Mush and Skittery were on the floor, Specs was standing with Boots and Snipeshooter... the names went on forever.

"I'll never remember all that," Air whispered to her friends.

"Don't worry, it's not that hard." Mousetrap smiled at them.

"I believe ya know the Mayor's daughters." There were nods of agreement as Racetrack spoke. "And this here is Clips, Air, and Fantasy, come ta visit us from the future."

"You remembered our names." Clips smiled at him, impressed.

"Yeah... and, ah, since I did, I get ta ask the first question." Race looked around the room. "I'm sure we're all wonderin'- what was dat thing that flew over us a while back?"

Fantasy grinned. "An air plane?"

Just like with the Bennets, the girls answered questions and explained things such as computers, planes, and the microwave as best they could. Kloppman was the one to put a stop to it- he told them he thought they were wasting their precious time doing something that wasn't very important in the long run. After all, everything they were finding out today would be very old news tomorrow. He sent them all outside, telling them to enjoy a morning without selling.

Everyone headed their different ways, all the newsboys, and even the Bennets, having a group of friends.

"We'll meet you at the Distribution Office when they go to buy the afternoon papers, all right?" Mayfly said to them, grinning, before she went off with her sisters and a few of the newsboys. The way she and Kid Blink walked together, the giggles her sisters let out, and the joking noises coming from the newsies, Air, Fantasy, and Clips decided Mayfly and Blink liked each other.

However, once everyone was gone, they realized they were alone in a city they were strangers in.

"What do we do now?" Clips asked.

"Well, ya could come with us," a voice from behind them said. They turned around to find Racetrack, Skittery, and Jake standing there. "We figured ya wouldn't know your way around da city," Race said.

"We'd be happy ta show you around," Skittery added.

"Really?" asked Air.

"But what about your friends?" Clips asked.

"They won't miss us," Jack said. "So... ya comin'?"

After a quick glance, the girls nodded and joined their self-proclaimed tour-guides for the day. After all... what else would they do?

"What would ya like ta see? Central Park, maybe?" Skittery suggested.

"Central Park is here? But... didn't your part of the city disappear?" Clips asked in amazement.

"Yeah. Central Park would've come with it, though." Race said confidently.

"Well... no. It didn't. It's in the city now," Fantasy said.

Race waited a moment to let that sink in, then spun to the left to head for the park.

"Race, wait!" Jack called, and the other five followed after him, the skyscraping buildings looming before them, looking very out-of-place from their view on the cobbled, old-fashioned street.

They walked in silence to the park, noticing Race's tension and not wanting to do anything to add to it. When they reached the park, the girls frowned. It was there, right before them, yet it looked nothing like the pictures they'd found of it online. It looked exactly how one would expect it to look compared to the building behind them.

Fantasy stared in shock at it. It wasn't even close to the large buildings a little ways in the distance. The person who'd cursed the city had obviously recreated Central Park sono one would notice it had gone missing. But none of this made any sense at all. She turned her back to the sight and walked a few feet away.

"It's still here," Racetrack said from beside her. Fantasy glanced at him, shaking her head.

"But how? There's a Central Park already in Manhattan-"

"Manhattan?" Racetrack asked. "But... this is Manhattan."

"Manhattan's still part of New York City," Fantasy said slowly. "If this is really Manhattan..."

Racetrack stared at her. "Ya mean... but no! One person couldn't put a curse on Manhattan then re-make it. How could he?"

"If he could make a whole part of a city disappear, I think he could do that, too." Fantasy sighed. "I don't understand it. The Bennets were saying that you were cursed because the newsies won the strike."

Racetrack nodded. "He was mad at Pulitzer."

"Pulitzer!" Fantasy turned to him, staring at him intently. "Does he live here?"

"In Manhattan?"

"Yes, did he disappear with you?"

"Yeah... why wouldn't he? Pulitzer was the one that guy was mad at the most."

Racetrack watched as she paledand looked like she was about to faint. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders so she wouldn't. "What's wrong?"

"I've heard of Pulitzer. He didn't just disappear one day. He lived longer than that. In all the history books I've read, I've never seen anything saying part of New York City disappeared, never seen anything about your strike. I think whoever cursed you recreated Manhattan and the people in it so there'd be no one to remember your strike."

Racetrack frowned. "But... why?"

"I have no idea."

* * *

I'm not sure I like where I'm going with this, but we'll see.

Please review!


	5. New York City

Disclaimer: I don't own the newsies. I own Fantasy, and Air, Clips, and anyone else mentioned who isn't in Newsies belongs to themselves. Convenient, yes?

>

"What do we do now?" Air asked as she slid into a booth at Tibby's.

"What _can_ we do?" Skittery asked.

"That's the thing," Clips said. "We can't do anything. I mean, really, it's not like we can all just leave here and try to prove to everyone that Manhattan really disappeared and we found it on accident."

"That's another thing," Jack cut in thoughtfully. "How come you are da only ones who found our Manhattan?"

"Yeah… Yeah! Other people had to have noticed a place this big just appearing out of no-where. Even on the news. They send a helicopter to video tape the highways. They had to have seen this place," Fantasy thought aloud. "If only you had TVs here…"

"Well, we could leave for an hour or so, go see if there's anything on the news."

Racetrack shook his head at Air. "None of us could come, only you three. We wouldn't know what ta do."

"That's fine, we could let you know what was happening when we came back." Air looked at her friends. "We should try it."

"We don't really have any other choice," Clips offered glancing at Fantasy.

"We don't," she agreed. "But all the same, I think hey should come with us." She nodded at the three newsboys.

"How come?" Air asked. "I mean, they have no idea what's happened since 1899! They don't have the right clothes, either."

"Yeah, but if you were in their place… I don't know about you, but I'd want to find out what happened."

Air looked at the boys and a grin spread slowly over her face. "It would be fun."

"A great adventure!" Clips laughed.

"Great. So, we'll go to the city and find everything we can about… well, all of this." Fantasy turned towards Race, Jack, and Skittery. "What do you say?"

"I'm going," Jack said. Skittery nodded his agreement. Race shrugged. "Why not?"

"Then we'd better try and make you look like boys from 2004." Air slid out of the booth. "Come on."

Two hours later, the six teenagers were standing in front of a library in modern-day Manahattan. They had spent forty-five minutes deciding on a suitable shirt for the three boys- Skittery was wearing one of Kloppman's long-sleeved flannel shirts that was, if not in fashion, at least passable as a shirt from modern-day. Jack was wearing one of his own shirts, a cotton button-up that looked surprisingly like a shirt Air's little brother wore all the time.

Racetrack was the only one who hadn't been able to find a shirt good enough, but thanks to his small build, he fit into one of Fantasy's t-shirts. It was, to Race's credit, too big on Fantasy and actually was made for a man.

They hadn't been able to find any pants, though, so they had stopped at a department store on the outskirts of the city and bought a pair of jeans for each boy.

Now there they were, standing in front of the library.

"I feel ridiculous," Race complained. "Why am I the only one who had ta wear this?"

"Stop complainin', Race." Skittery shook his head at his friend.

"People are starin' at me! Damn it Fantasy, why couldn't any other shirts fit me?" He crossed his arms in front of him.

The girls had laughed themselves silly when Racetrack came out in Fantasy's "Beauty and the Beast: The Musical" shirt on. When they explained that most guys their age didn't like musicals, especially Disney ones (which brought on more questions), he's made Air and Clips give him their bigger shirts to try on, but none fit.

"It's not my fault, you know, Race," Fantasy defended herself. "You tried on Clips and Air's shirts, too."

"Yeah, well, it's _your_ shirt that I'm stuck in!" Race raised his voice in aggravation.

Fantasy smirked as a couple walking past them stared at Racetrack after his outburst. "You'll want to keep your voice down. Guys in 2004 don't normally wear girl shirts."

"Are you tryin' ta make me feel better?"

"I'm just teasing you, Race," Fantasy said. "A joke. Really, you look fine."

"Can we just go inside already? We don't have all day." Air started up the stairs and paused before opening the door. "Literally."

They all followed behind her and stepped into the air-conditioned building.

"How is it so cold in here?" Jack asked, instantly noticing the drop in temperature.

"I guess we forgot to explain…" Clips trailed off. "Air conditioning. I… Well, I've never really thought about how it works, but most of the buildings have them for the summer. It keeps places cold."

"And we have a heating system for the winter," Air added.

"I wish the Lodgin' House had that," Skittery said.

"Maybe some day it will," Clips said to him, smiling and patting his arm. Skittery smiled back at her.

The other four stared at them for a second before shaking their heads.

"What now?" Air asked.

"Why don't we split up. A couple of us can look through the old newspapers. We'll need someone to look at the old maps, and the new ones. There would be information in the books, too…" Fantasy rambled off.

"We could go look at the old newspapers." Skittery gestured at himself and Clips.

"And we'll go search through the books," Air said. "If… that's ok with you, Jack."

"It's fine," Jack agreed.

"All right, then. We'll fine some maps. Meet back here in an hour and a half even if you don't find anything," Fantasy said.

"And if you do find something, call our cell phones," Air said before walking upstairs to the historical book section. Clips and Skittery went to ask a librarian for help with the newspapers, an Fantasy and Racetrack were left alone.

"Do ya have any idea where we'd fine da maps?" He asked.

"None. But we could most likely find a modern-day map online."

"And how do we find on line?"

"Computers. Come on, they're right over there." Fantasy pointed to the computer section and led him over, picking the computer in the far corner. They were far enough away from anyone else to feel safe enough to discuss everything.

"How do these work?" he asked as he sat down at the one next to her.

"Maybe you should just look on my screen." She logged online and searched the google image directories for a good map of all of New York City. "This is harder than I thought," she muttered after a few minutes of searching. "There's nothing anywhere about where the real Manhattan is."

"Well, doesn't everyone think _this_ is the real Manhattan?" Race asked irratibly. He pointed at the screen. "Can't this go faster?"

Fantasy stopped typing to look over at him. "I'm trying." She turned back, looked over the map that was on the screen. When nothing showed up, she glanced through the related links posted on the site. "This might help…" She clicked on one titled 'The Land Surrounding New York City'. "All right, we drove north to get here, so it'd be south of here…" She clicked on the word 'south' and was taken to a new page with pictures of the land south of the city. Some pictures were of towns and villages, but she skipped over those. "I don' think there are buildings there… I mean, it wouldn't make sense. The buildings and people can't just disappear for a day every one hundred and five years."

"It could happen," Race said glumly.

She noticed the sad tone of his voice and sighed. "I'm sorry, Race."

"Why?"

"That this happened to you. Everything you've ever known is… well, gone."

"Not everything. It's just weird, ya know?"

"Yeah, I-" she trailed off as her phone began to ring.

"What's that?" Race asked in confusion.

Fantasy ignored him, however, and answered the phone. "Clips? Did you find something?"

"Yeah, and you'd never believe… Fantasy, they have articles about the Newsboy's strike in 1899!"

Fantasy sat up straighter, shocked. "They what?"

"They have a few about it."

"You're kidding me. There's actually… but I thought the strike's why the city disappeared."

"That's the weird thing," Clips explained. "There was a strike, but they didn't win. All they got out of it was being able to sell back the papers no one bought."

"That's crazy! So that guy just created a whole different strike?"

"Yeah, but…"

"What, Clips?"

"There's quotes, Fantasy."

"Quotes?" Fantasy repeated.

"_What_ is going _on_?" Race asked.

"From some of the newsies. Boots, Kid Blink… I mean, they're in the newspaper! Skits said they _never_ said these things. He must have done this. He must have remade the newsies, too!"

Fantasy frowned. "Ok… thanks for calling. Why don't you call and let Air know?"

"All right. You haven't found anything?"

"No. No, not yet."

"Ok, I'll see you later," Clips answered apprehensively.

"All right. Bye." Fantasy hung up.

"What happened?"

Fantasy looked at Racetrack. "There's quotes from the newsies in the newspaper, about the strike."

"What!"

"That's what Clips said. Whoever did all this made up a different newsie strike." She clicked on a random link while talking. "There was a whole different outcome than what happened to you. It's-" She froze, staring at the screen in front of her. After a minute or so, she looked over at Race, noticing how he had paled. "Race…"

"What is this? Is this supposed to be funny?"

"No, Race, I- I didn't know, I just clicked on something… Holy shirt, so… so this is what's where your part of the city is now."

Race just gaped at the screen for a few seconds more before jumping up. "I'm gonna… I have ta go." He turned and began walking quickly towards the doors.

"Wait!" Fantasy fumbled with the computer, closing out of the site and online before jumping up and following him. She caught up with him when he was on the stairs outside the library. "Race, please, stop."

"Stop!" Race exploded. "Fantasy, can you expect me ta just stay there, lookin' at that?"

"I-"

"Because I can't! That was just… not right! Scary as hell." He walked up the steps until he was next to her. "How would you feel if you saw dat? There's no way to describe how…" He shivered.

Catiously, Fantasy reached her hand out and touched his arm. "Please, Race. I'm really sorry, I didn't know that would happen."

With a long, deep breath, Racetrack sat down on the steps, Fantasy sinking down next to him. "I know it's not your fault, but… I didn't think I'd ever see that. No one should ever be able to see their own grave."

With that, the picture seemed to flash into Fantasy's brain, as if it was imprinted there: a cemetery, dead flowers, dead grass, and rows and rows of mossy tombstones that were, amazingly, legible. And the closest one saying "Anthony 'Racetrack' Higgins".

"I makes sense, though. Everyone who lives in the real Manhattan must be buried in that cemetery. Well, the remade people of you. Your clones, that would be. We'll just call them your clones." When he didn't move, she touched his shoulder in comfort. "It's not you grave, it's someone else's, a person who just happens to have the same name as you."

"But I feel like my whole future's gone. That… that _clone_ lived my life! I was supposed to live everything he did. But I can't, and he's dead. It's like _I'm_ dead. My future's over."

"Race, that's-"

He jumped up again, blowing up at Fantasy. "I _know_ that doesn't make any sense. I don't know how to explain it!" He paused, closed his eyes. "I don't want to explain it. I don't want to even think about it."

"Then we'll forget about it," Fantasy said, trying to convince both herself and Race that they would. Though she knew it'd be impossible. "We'll tell the other that the land's normally a graveyard. That's it. We won't go any farther into it."

Race went and say down next to her again, putting his head in his hands, trying to calm himself down. "I'm sorry," he said after a few minutes, when he felt a lot better.

"Don't be. If I were you…" She trailed off, not even wanting to imagine it. "It was hard for me to see, too. I mean… it's one thing to go see a grave of a friend when you know they're dead. You have time to prepare for it. But this… I wasn't expecting it."

Race lifted his head and looked at her, a small smile on his face. "Does that mean you consider me a friend?"

Fantasy grew flustered. "Well… yeah. I mean, I know we just met…" Again she trailed off. 'What are you _doing_?' she thought to herself. It was a rare thing for Fantasy to get flustered by anyone. And that statement... why, there was no reason to get flustered.

Except for the fact that, no matter how much she tried to deny it, she had a crush on him.

Which was absurd. She hadn't even known him for a full day.

But he just grinned at her, color coming back to his pale face. "Well, well, well, what is _this_ all about?"

"It's nothing," she said, trying to brush it off. "I just think of you as a friend." She paused, angry at herself. Now it sounded like she was turning him down. Which she wasn't. Not that he even said anything. So it didn't really matter that she's said it. I tmade sense in the conversation… With a sound of exasperation, she said, "We should go back inside and find everybody. They-"

"Can wait," He said, finishing her sentence. And then, he kissed her. When he pulled back, Fantasy was dazed, and Race grinned, immensely proud of himself and quite happy. "Dat's what I thought."

>

Bad ending, so shoot me.

Review?


	6. HatStealer and Decisions

Disclaimer: I own Fantasy. I do not, however, own any of the Newsies or Clips or Air or any of the mayor's daughters or Myya. In fact, I don't even own the idea of Brigadoon. Imagine that.

Author's Note: I never thought I'd be finishing this fic. However, I reread some of my stories and was left wondering what was going to happen at the end of this story. More importantly, I was wondering why on earth I had not finished it. It's not too difficult, and I only have about two chapters left. When I stumbled upon the profiles for this fic (not a small feat, since I got a new computer since then and no longer had them saved there), I took it as a sign I should finish. I don't know if any of the people in this story are still around or if anyone will even want to finish reading this, but here I go anyway.

* * *

The car bounced as it inched down the road. Air was driving, and for once, found herself going below the speed limit. The silence dragged on as each of them tried to come up with the best way to handle the situation they now found themselves in.

When Fantasy and Racetrack had gone back into the library, they hadn't found much else of interest. They had looked up videos on websites for the news, searching those that recorded traffic reports. They had not seen the real city, but had caught glimpses of a cemetery - their cemetery. It seemed you had to be close for the buildings to even appear, and the land was far enough away from anything else for the cemetery to hold on to its disguise. Only a wrong turn could bring you to it, and that didn't seem to be a problem for anyone else but Clips, Air, and Fantasy. Once Fantasy and Racetrack settled on that conclusion, they realized, to their relief, that it was not, as they had hoped, necessary to mention exactly whose graves dotted the lands of the cemetery. The information they did share was already enough to worry about.

"Well, do we tell anyone what we found?" Skittery finally asked, voicing a question they were all thinking.

Jack turned around in his seat in the front, frowning. "I don't want to worry them. It's not like it matters, anyway. The city'll gone by tomorrow for another 105 years. Who knows what will have changed by then."

Fantasy could feel Clips' shoulders rise and fall as she shrugged next to her. The two of them were squashed in the middle of the backseat, Racetrack and Skittery claiming the windows. She turned her gaze toward her friend and noticed the concentration on her face.

"I think we should tell them," Clips began, and calmly held up her hand in a small attempt to stop anyone from interrupting. "Maybe not everyone. But the Mayor would probably want to know. Even if everything is different tomorrow, it'd be nice to have some answers, right? I mean, I wanted to know, and I don't even live here. And obviously I'm not the only one who was curious. It took some effort to get downtown, but we did it, anyway."

Air sighed and slowed down even more as the city came into view before them. "I think we'd better decide before we get there. But remember, either way, the rest of the newsies will see your clothes and wonder why you're wearing them."

"So you agree with Clips?" Jack asked, and looked toward her quick enough to see her nod.

Skittery shook his head slowly. "But what about the newsies? Are you sayin' we should tell them, too?"

"They're your friends, Skitts," Clip said quietly.

"I guess... I guess I'd want them to tell me." Jack nodded at Clips. "We'll tell them." Jack faced front again and pushed down on the window button, letting the wind blow through his hair as it slowly lowered; he had made his decision and expected everyone to follow him. Since no one made a move to disagree, it seemed that they would.

Fantasy looked over at Racetrack, who had his head against the closed window, his eyes trained on the first building marking the entrance to the cursed city. Fantasy suspected he was imagining the rows of graves stretching out before him instead, and she quietly slipped her hand into his, offering him some comfort. He didn't move or look at her, but he did close his fingers around hers in acceptance.

A quick glance to her right showed that Clips and Skittery were also holding hands, and she fought to bite back a small mile. It was not really that funny, after all, but Fantasy could not help thinking how ironic it was that such chaotic times could bring people together.

More people were on the streets as they entered the old Manhattan than there were when they had left, and the three boys slid down in their seats almost at the same time. Jack even rolled his window up. The girls couldn't help but laugh at them. They looked like they felt guilty, all pulling off a perfect imitation of a five year old getting caught stealing a cookie.

"What on earth are you doing?" Air asked as she took a very careful left turn.

"We left the city," Jack answered. "I feel like that's against the rules somehow."

Racetrack shook his head. "I ain't guilty about nothin'."

"Oh yeah?" Skittery asked. "They why are _you_ cowering?"

When Racetrack didn't answer, Skittery opened his mouth to ask again, but Fantasy butted in before he could. "Have you forgotten what shirt he's wearing?" Her laughter caused the others to follow her lead, easing but not abolishing the tension in the car. She pulled her hand from his to pat his leg. "Don't worry, there, Race, no one knows what _Beauty and the Beast_ is."

Jack grinned mischievously. "They will soon."

Race lunged forward as Air came to a stop in front of the Lodging House, and he grabbed Jack's cowboy hat from where it rested in his hands. Jack tried to retrieve it, but Race flung his door open, almost ripped his seatbelt off, and was out of the car before anyone else could even make a move. "Tell 'em and the hat's done for!" Race theatened as he bounded up the stairs and through the door. Jack wasted no time in pushing his own door open and following behind him.

"Race, if you do _anything_ ta that hat..."

Skittery squinted his eyes, following Jack as he disappeared through the door. "They can't stay serious for more than a minute." He shook his head, clearly disapproving.

Clips laughed as he opened his door and started to climb out of the car. "And you can, huh, Skitts?"

Skittery grabbed Clips' hand and pulled her out of the car to the street, where she stumbled to find her feet on the worn cobblestones. He smiled down at her. "They do call me glum and dumb."

Clips bit her lip, her expression changing to one of complete seriousness. "You know, I can see where they're coming from."

His smile grew bigger. "You're terrible."

Clips laughed and grabbed his hand, dragging him towards the Lodging House. "I try."

In the car, Fantasy was just unbuckling her seatbelt, already amused by what she was imagining was happening in the Lodging House at this moment. Then Air turned back to look at her. "You know, I have a bad feeling about all of this."

Immediately, Fantasy's thoughts turned to the graveyard, and she shivered. "Yeah. Me, too." _You have no idea_, she thought, wishing there was some way they could fix everything.

Air sighed and turned to face forward again. "I mean, what's going to happen to us?"

Completely thrown off, Fantasy frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, we found all this, right?" She gestured out the windshield. "Does that mean we're stuck here, too, now? Even if we leave before everything disappears again?" Air turned around again. "And I mean, how does that work anyway? Does it disappear exactly at midnight, or... or when everyone falls asleep?"

Fantasy looked down at her lap, unsure of what to say. "I have no idea, Air."

"And everyone's getting too attached. I mean, look at Clips, and the boys... I just-" Air looked away again, towards the Lodging House. "We should leave. Let them tell the Mayor what we found out, but I really think we should get out of here."

Fantasy looked towards the Lodging House, as well, thinking of Racetrack. It was just a crush, but it just seemed... different than ever before. She'd never met anyone like him, and the thought of leaving him... well, it didn't make her happy. "You want to leave now?"

Air felt her hesitation, and she turned back to her, needing to get Fantasy on her side. If nothing else, she would need her help to convince Clips. "I know what you're thinking, Fantasy, but these guys aren't even from our generation. They didn't even know what air conditioning was. They're _not like us_. I understand what you're feeling, because Jack... well, if I had met him in any other place in any other time, I wouldn't want to leave, but this is different. We belong in our own time, Fantasy. We're going to have to leave eventually. Don't you think it'd be better if we left now, before anyone gets even more attached?"

"I didn't really..." Fantasy glanced up. "I didn't really think about us leaving yet."

"I don't think we should wait, Fantasy. What if this curse takes hold of us, too? Do you really want to be stuck living here, in this time and town for the rest of your life? I don't."

"How do you know we'd get caught here, too? I'm sure we could leave whenever we wanted to, as long as it's before the end of the day." Fantasy started to slide towards the door, attempting to avoid any further conversation. She knew it was something they would have to talk about again soon, but she really felt there was no danger in staying for a while longer.

And she didn't want to have to deal with the idea of leaving yet. "Let's just go inside and figure everything out later."

Air sighed, giving up for the moment. She looked at the clock; it was already 3 in the afternoon. "Three hours, Fantasy. And then we at least have to talk about it again."

Fantasy nodded and pushed her door open, getting to her feet in the summer air. She paused a moment, waiting for Air to exit the car, as well, and walked with her up the stairs and through the front door in tense silence. They could both hear a commotion coming from the second floor, and Fantasy tried her hardest to push the conversation out of her head.

"I don't know if I want to know what's going on upstairs." Fantasy offered a small smile.

Air smiled back. "I _know_ I don't want to know."

They both chuckled a little and continued up the stairs and into the bunkroom, only to see all the boys crowded around the door to the bathroom, yelling and cheering. Racetrack's voice rose over them. "Tha's my last cigar, Jack! What if I can't get another one?"

Jack's voice followed. "It's the sacrifice you'll have to make if you lay one foot on my hat."

Fantasy began to push her way through the crowd, Air following behind her. Jack was standing at one of the bath tubs, dangling Racetrack's cigar above the water, while Race was posed, hat on the ground, one foot hanging ominously above it.

"Do you think this happens often?" Air asked, and Fantasy laughed.

"I wouldn't be surprised."

"Give me the cigar and you can have your hat back." Race wobbled, grabbing onto the wall beside him to keep his balance.

"Hat first, then cigar," Jack said. When Race shook his head, Jack lowered the cigar closer to the water.

"Hey, hey." A boy with glasses and a bowler hat stepped forward. "Give 'em both to me, I'll switch them."

"And risk your blind self accidently dropping my cigar into the water? Not a chance!" Race lowered his foot to the point where it touched the top of the cowboy hat.

Fantasy turned to Air, shaking her head. "I don't remember half of these guys' names."

"I think that's Specs?" Air shrugged, smiling. "He has glasses, it would make sense."

The boy, meanwhile, rolled his eyes. "Thanks for that vote of confidence, Race. Now, move your foot, and Jack, step away from the water and bring them both to me. Happy Race? No water around me at all."

Race and Jack eyed each other, and after a moment, Jack took a tentative step back. Grumbling, Race placed his foot on the ground and stooped to pick the hat up. The two walked towards their friend and handed their items over. The boy crossed his arms so that the hat was in front of Jack and the cigar in front of Racetrak, raising his eyebrows until they grabbed them from him.

"What, no thanks?" the boy asked.

"I'm so humbled by your act of kindess, oh Great and Mighty Specs, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart." Race bowed mockingly to compliment his sarcasm, then narrowed his eyes. "Now nothing else from you or I'll take those glasses off your face and threaten to stomp on those, too."

Specs grinned. "You're so charming, Race." He gave Racetrack and Jack a look over. "Now, what are those clothes you're wearing?"

"I think this is where we step in," Air whispered to Fantasy, and the two of them moved to join the boys in the middle of the bathroom.

"That's actually what we need to talk about," Fantasy said, and she looked around the room, spotting Clips and Skittery in the middle of the crowd on the right. She gestured to them, and they made their way over to join their group. "We, um, went to the present-day New York and tried to find out why no one noticed a whole city disappearing, or at least find out why no one has noticed that it suddenly reappeared today."

Jack waved his hands above his head, calling out to the newsies, who had stopped paying attention to them. "This is important! You should all listen to this."

They began to quiet down, and Jack nodded at Fantasy to continue. She explained to them about the newspaper articles with quotes from them, and went on to explain about the cemetary, as well as her and Race's theory for why no one had noticed their reappearance. They all answered any questions they could, and when no one else could think of anything more to say, they all sat in silence. It was a lot to take in, and it seemed it would take at least a few minutes for that to happen.

Fantasy turned to Racetrack, who stood beside her, and slipped her hand into his again. "We need to talk," she whispered, and he looked down at her inquisitively. "When we get a chance to be alone, ok?" He nodded and kissed her forehead.

"Jack, you know the Mayor-" Kloppman, who had been listening by the door, began.

"We know. We're going to tell him now. We just wanted to let you know first." Jack grabbed Air's hand and led her to the door of the bathroom and out into the bunkroom. "We'll be back soon." Fantasy, Race, Clips, and Skittery followed after them.

"They printed an afternoon paper, you know," Kloppman continued, walking besides Jack as he left the bunkroom and walked down the stairs. "It's free, but we've been asked to hand them out to anyone who wants one. It explains everything the Mayor knows about what has happened."

"Thanks for letting us know, Kloppy," Skittery said. He and Clips made up the caboose of the group, and he clapped Kloppman on the shoulder as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "We'll head to the Distribution Office when we're done."

Kloppman nodded. "Be careful."

Jack smiled at the man before he left the building. "We will."


End file.
